Women's Day: Blind girl becomes hon SHO of Banaswadi police station

Amid the celebrations, there were women in the city who spent the day going about their daily, mundane routines. DH PHOTO/B H SHIVAKUMAR

The Bannerghatta Biological Park celebrated the special day by naming a 15-day-old elephant calf as ‘Saraswathi’. The calf was adopted by a city-based couple for a year.

Amid the celebrations, there were women in the city who spent the day going about their daily, mundane routines. DH PHOTO/S K DINESH

The Banaswadi police marked International Women’s Day on Sunday by making a visually challenged college student an honorary Station House Officer (SHO).

As St Joseph’s College student T M Safna got down from the jeep in full uniform with the customary three stars pinned to her lapels, the station’s police force stood in attention and saluted.

Inspector H Jayaraj welcomed Safna, who was living her dream of becoming an inspector. Seated in the inspector’s chair, the honorary SHO interacted with the staff and learnt about their daily activities.

Jayaraj later said DCP S D Sharanappa gave the idea to fulfill Safna’s dream. Safna is the daughter of Mohammed Bashir, who runs a petty shop. “We are happy that we could fulfil her wish,” Jayaraj said. “She has overcome hardships posed by her vision challenge and the financial constraints of her family.”

The organisation Child Rights and You (CRY) held a ceremonial wedding procession, asking people to attend the marriage of a young girl, reminding them in a symbolic way the plight of 6.53 lakh girls in Karnataka who are married as children. “At age 15, only 2.2% of the married population are boys, while 8.6% are girls,” said the organisation. “Today’s girls are tomorrow’s women. Young girls who get married at an early age face several health-related problems and are at a greater risk of infant and maternal mortality.”

City-based tech firm Tekion held an interactive session on image building and a unique self-defence workshop, besides promoting handicrafts made by women at its campus in JP Nagar.

Transition Care Chain-SuVitas head and certified martial arts expert Antra Bhargava engaged women techies on personal safety training model PACE.

Another city firm Prameya Health held a session for women on the importance of wellness in Lalbagh on Sunday, in which 50 women took part. The event included fitness assessments, yoga games, fun games and a health quiz.

On the special day, DCP (South) Rohini Katoch presented the Eastern Bhoomika awards to women achievers from varying fields and felicitated them.

For its part, the Canadian International School (CIS) marked the International Women’s Day by arranging a photo shoot, advocating equality and prompting many to click pictures together while expressing solidarity with the cause.